TITLE:
Cattle Counting Ceremony among the Wolaita (Ethiopia): Exploring Socio-Economic and Environmental Roles
AUTHORS:
Yacob Hidoto
KEYWORDS:
Cattle Counting Rituals and Feasts, Social Prestige and Status, Livelihood and Wealth
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.5 No.5,
May
12,
2015
ABSTRACT:
Livestock play
significant roles in the lives of different peoples in Ethiopia. The importance
of livestock and culture associated with them has got a greater impetus in the
post-conflict political reform in Ethiopia. The 1990s reform provided
opportunities for various ethnic groups to resuscitate aspects of their
traditions that were suppressed under the previous regimes. The purpose of this
study is to explore socio-economic and environmental roles of cultural based
notion of cattle counting rite of the Wolaita People. The practices of cattle
counting of Wolaita are called as Dala and Lika, which refers to
ceremonies of public displaying of one’s own cattle wealth numbering minimum
of, respectively, hundred and thousand cattle. The Dala and Lika ceremonies honor men. However, there is also Gimuwa ceremony which
honors women. The ceremony of cattle counting is accompanied by the lavish
feasts and series of rituals. The central figures in cattle counting rite are
wealthy farmers who wish to achieve social prestige by demonstrating their
cattle wealth. The practices have got a greater attention by the farmers of
Wolaita since the fall of the socialist regime in 1991. Using ethnographic
technique, this article tried to explore the practices of the Dala, Lika and Gimuwa, focusing
on how the cattle counting rite gives economic and social status to the farmers
and ensure environmental sustainability.